The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
The women and children of the Inca king were escorted into the temple courtyard. The Inca king reunited and met with his family in the big house. Originally it was a happy thing for the family members to meet, but as soon as the concubines entered the room and saw the king sitting blankly on the chair, they gathered around and started crying. I don’t know if they are crying for the king or for themselves. Maybe there are reasons for both. The king said to the concubines, "Don't cry, am I not good?"
After listening to the king's words, the concubines all smiled with tears on their faces. Uga said, "We thought we would never see the king again."
Atahualpa said, "We will be free soon. I have signed an agreement with the Spaniards. When I have people fill the cell where I am locked up with gold, they will let me out. There Then we can be free.”
Saying this, he glanced at his queen, Anna Maya. Queen Anna Maya was standing in a corner of the room with her daughter, watching the concubines crying around him, so she stood aside and waited. But he found that when he said this, all the concubines showed happy expressions, but the queen showed no expression or reaction. So, he got up from the chair, walked to Queen Anna, stroked her beautiful face with his hand, and said, "How are you these days?"
Queen Anna shook her head and said, "You have become like this, how can I feel better?"
The king picked up his daughter, kissed her, and said, "My precious daughter, daddy misses you so much."
The daughter said, “Dad, did you let the big white man capture you alive?”
The king suddenly turned pale and looked at Queen Anna. Queen Anna immediately said to her daughter, "What are you talking about?"
The daughter said, "Aunt Gina said it."
The king and queen both looked towards Concubine Gina. However, Princess Gina stood aside coldly, completely different from the other princesses who were crying and laughing, which made the king feel a little strange and indifferent.
Suddenly, Queen Anna asked the king, "Do you really believe in the agreement that the Spaniards signed with you to exchange gold for freedom?"
The king was startled and asked, "What's wrong?"
Queen Anna stared at the king with worried eyes and said, "Do you believe they will really let you go?"
The king said, "The purpose of their coming here is to find gold. If they have enough gold, they will leave here with the gold. Because this is not their home after all."
At this time, Attendant Haya entered the room and said to the king, "My supreme king, can I take the aunts to their rooms?"
Haya had been serving as a squire to Emperor Huayna Capac and King Atahualpa for many years. On the afternoon when the king brought eighty thousand troops to the Plaza de Armas to intimidate the Spaniards, Haya was staying in the palace. When the king led the soldiers to the square. A local prince ran to the palace to report that the Spaniards had set up an ambush near the square and had hidden the rideable mythical beast in the woods, and asked the Inca King not to take risks.
When Haya heard the news, he took the prince and ran to find the Inca king. However, before the two of them reached the square, they saw soldiers knocking down the wall of the square, and then fleeing across the wall towards the valley. He stopped an Inca officer and asked where the king was. The officer said that the king had been captured alive by the Spaniards. At this time, Haya saw Spain riding a mythical beast over the wall and chasing the Inca soldiers with a long sword, so he hurriedly ran towards the castle not far from the square with the prince. The prince who was guarding the castle happened to know the two of them, so he let them into the castle, and then closed the stone door of the castle. They then went up to the top of the castle and saw the tragic scene of the Spanish chasing the Inca soldiers in the afterglow of the setting sun. They felt that the Inca army was completely finished. It was not until late at night, when there was no movement in the square, that he came out of the castle and ran to the prince's house to hide. Early this morning, he heard Spanish soldiers say that the Inca King had signed an agreement with the Spanish Marquis to exchange gold for freedom, and that the Inca King had been taken to the temple and was going to live with his family. He then sent someone to contact the Inca King. The king was worried that he could not find anyone to help him contact the princes and ministers. As soon as he heard that Haya was coming to see him, he immediately asked him to come over. Because without Haya, he felt like he couldn't do anything. The first thing Haya did when he came back was to arrange accommodation for the concubines. Now that Haya has arranged the room, the king asked Haya to take the concubines to their rooms, because he was about to summon some princes and asked them to organize people to collect in Cusco and all over the country. gold.
The Inca King said to Queen Ana Maya, "You go back to the room with Haya first, and I will pick you up and the children to sleep with me in the evening."
Queen Anna Maya nodded and followed Haya out of the king's meeting room.
(Please pay attention to Zhang Baotong's signed work "Poetic Emotions", which includes short prose, life essays and short stories. Today's release is the short prose "Flowers of Mood")
